


The Bone Harp

by tigriswolf



Series: dark fairy tales [35]
Category: The Twa Sisters (Ballad)
Genre: Dark, Gen, Gods, Magic, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 05:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12720339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: He held aloft a gleaming harpPale as bone with golden strings and explained,“A harp that itself sings!”Retelling of The Twa Sisters.  Please read the notes for trigger warnings.





	The Bone Harp

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my poetry class; while parts of it are being incorporated, the piece as a whole isn't, so I'm posting it here. There's some backstory with the gods and society but it isn't really necessary info, I think. *shrugs* I haven't even hammered it all out for myself yet anyway. 
> 
> Warnings: references to pedophilia and murder of a child

_On a cool autumn day_

Two little girls went down to the river

To play.  Their guards followed for

One was the princess and the other was the

Daughter of the high priestess of the Bloody God.

 

_As the sunset darkened the river,_

Only one little girl was brought home

In the arms of a solemn guard with fearful

Eyes and without an explanation for the

Missing child. Though the princess was silent all

Night and then the next day, too, the guard was

Imprisoned and executed at noon.  The princess

Remained voiceless until the high priestess swept in,

The Bloody God’s name on her lips.

 

_No body was ever found for the_

Daughter of the Bloody God’s high priestess.

The princess told a confounding tale

But not even the high priestess could interpret

Her words into a useful truth.

 

_It was a dark time, the days after the girl_

Was lost in the river for the Bloody God’s justice

Devours, the Bloody God’s justice

Brutally punishes the wicked and

The high priestess refused to calm her God

Until her daughter was brought home.

 

_Winter froze the kingdom, the coldest_

In living memory, and when spring came,

It barely thawed the ground. 

The celebrations were held as usual, though,

And at the Lady’s Feast, a minstrel new to the land

Stepped to the center of the fair,

Bowing to the priestesses and the nobles,

Proclaiming, “A marvel I bring!”

He held aloft a gleaming harp

Pale as bone with golden strings and explained,

“A harp that itself sings!”

 

_The crowd slowly quieted as the minstrel waited_

And the Lady’s high priestess alone noticed how

The Bloody God’s high priestess clenched her fingers,

How the Bloody God’s high priestess

Did not look away from the harp pale as bone.

 

_The harp sang_

With the voice of a lost little girl, telling

The story of a king’s lustful gaze

And two girls in their seventh years,

Who went down to the river one day.

The harp crooned,

With the voice of a lost little girl her killer’s name,

And the king, at the highest table, paled

As the high priestess of the Bloody God

Rose to her feet, power thrumming through her,

Power singing the air around her, thunder high

In the sky and lightning flowing from her hands.

 

_The Bloody God punishes_

And the high priestesses of the

Three-Fold God—

The Lady,

The Bloody God,

The Nameless One

—speak commands that none disobey,

Not even kings on their thrones.

 

_By order of the High Priestess of the Bloody God,_

And the king was hanged at noon

While the prince was crowned

And the queen wailed so loud

The wolves heard it all the way outside of town.

 

_The harp that sings itself was laid_

To rest on a hill overlooking the river

And the princess, friend to the high priestess’

Daughter, often visited and told stories

Of the sunlit days when they were young.

 


End file.
